PHOENIX — As Mass concluded at a parish here in early February, the priest called attention to the importance of the Catholic Church’s nationwide Encuentro program for retaining Hispanic members.
By the time that Hispanics or Latinos reach their second or third generation of living in the United States, “we’re losing them at an alarming rate,” the priest said.
Although the Encuentro (Encounter) promotes itself as engaging this population, there’s worry expressed perhaps sotto voce that a considerable part of the demographic simply is being lost to the U.S. Church.
One of the stated objectives of Encuentro is: “Invite all Catholic leaders to engage and accompany Hispanic Catholics who find themselves in the peripheries of the Church and society, particularly those who live in at-risk situations and are not actively involved in their faith community.”
Over recent years, The Wanderer has interviewed some Latino U.S. citizens here who’ve explained why arrivals from south of the border may not remain firm in their historic religious beliefs.
Reasons include the lack of traditional supports for that faith here, the dominantly un-Catholic or non-Catholic atmosphere of the U.S., successful attempts to win them into fervent non-Catholic religious evangelicalism, an anti-Catholic mass media, and even the fact that those who slip into the U.S. illegally may know how to head north, but they still have a damaged moral compass.
U.S. defenders of national security have been correct when they said that massive illegal immigration not only harms the nation that the unauthorized crossers come to, but also the unreformed homelands they left behind.
The issue is more complicated when many of their first generation here defiantly evaded U.S. law to arrive and remain, or that their motivations may have included “reconquering” the U.S. Southwest for the mythical bronze “Aztlan” kingdom.
If only the illegal immigrants spent one-third as much energy and ingenuity at improving their own homelands as they do breaking U.S. law, many problems south of the border would have been corrected, U.S. defenders say.
Those whom The Wanderer has interviewed on the issue of immigration and religion include Catholic conservative activist Reymundo Torres, a third-generation American whose family arrived legally from Mexico, and Luz Fuenzalida, a Chilean native who came here legally then obtained U.S. citizenship.
From the outset of his unlikely campaign in 2015, President Trump successfully attracted many voters concerned about border security who had been ignored by elite U.S. political, media, and religious establishments, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The USCCB didn’t seem to have learned anything from Trump’s victory but only was more insistent on its policy of undifferentiated immigration, in which the mere wish of innumerable non-citizens to come here should be granted.
On January 27, sfgate.com, the website of northern California’s largest daily, the San Francisco Chronicle, posted a story headlined, “SF archbishop on Trump: Church will aid undocumented immigrants.”
It said that Salvatore Cordileone, Catholic archbishop of San Francisco, gave “an uneasy chuckle” when he said that Trump “hit the ground running” to fulfill his promises on illegal immigration.
The Chronicle reported: “Though not unexpected, the new policies — which include increased funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and guidelines to build the long-promised wall on the Mexican border — made Cordileone ‘nervous,’ he said.”
The archbishop said “the Catholic Church is mobilizing to help immigrants without documentation brace for President Trump’s crackdown,” the news site said, adding that Cordileone “said the church will ensure that immigrants ‘know their rights’ and will be ‘protected’.”
The Wanderer asked San Franciscan Gibbons Cooney if he thought the article fairly represented Cordileone’s position, which shares the liberal Democratic Party view on unlimited immigration.
Cooney, the parish secretary of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in the city’s North Beach neighborhood, responded by email that he wanted to make clear “I am not opposing His Excellency’s position — in fact, am agreeing with it — but just want to reduce the need for it.”
The Chronicle story “sounds fair to me,” Cooney said. “I’m not sure that the archbishop shares the ‘liberal Democratic Party view’ on immigration because, as far as I can tell, that view refuses to recognize the existence of borders. He’s just following the Gospel injunction to help the poor.
“As the author of the article says, ‘Immigration is a pressing issue for the Church, which has a history of sheltering and providing refuges for undocumented immigrants and families’,” Cooney said.
“But what needs to be done, and what President Trump’s wall will do,” Cooney added, “is to stop letting unlimited numbers of ‘undocumented immigrants’ in, because then the problem of ‘sheltering and providing refuges’ for them begins to become manageable.
“The impetus that causes them to be illegal immigrants in the first place does not evaporate, of course. The thing to do is help their countries attain First World status, not reduce America to Third World status — which has already happened in the State of California,” he said.
“The Church teaches 1) that every nation has a right and duty to a secure border, and 2) that everyone has a duty to help the poor. Far from being in conflict, those two positions reinforce one another. You can only help the poor if you can manage the problem,” Cooney said.
“If we let everyone into America who wants to come to America, we cease to be America and no longer have the ability to be helpful. An example is the situation of the homeless in San Francisco — there are now so many, they end up being ignored,” he said.
“It’s a good illustration of the complementary roles of church and state. The Church wants to help everybody, but if put into practice without limits, it is self-defeating. The state, by placing the limits necessary to allow the state to function, enables the Church to actually fulfill its duty,” Cooney concluded.

Cafeteria Rules

San Francisco-area commentator Barbara Simpson, a conservative Catholic, took note of Cordileone’s comments in her February 5 weekly column for World Net Daily.
Concerning Cordileone’s desire to protect unauthorized immigrants, Simpson wrote:
“For many, it appears that not only does the Church have ‘cafeteria Catholics’ — those who pick and choose what they will do rather than follow Church law — but now the Church has to deal with ‘cafeteria rules,’ in other words, Church rules and guidelines that people can pick and choose at will and still be considered ‘good’ Catholics.”
The archbishop’s professed desire that they “know their rights” led Simpson to comment:
“Let’s see, just what are the ‘rights’ of people who have broken the law to get into this country, who are working here illegally, often using stolen or faked identification, perhaps driving without a license, and taking advantage of our social-service programs even though they’re here illegally?
“Outside of basic ‘human rights,’ they have none of the rights of American citizens or people who are in this country legally,” she said, and concluded:
“As a Catholic myself, I see our beliefs being watered down as politics makes dangerous inroads into our doctrines, and the bishops who are supposed to provide the guidelines allow ‘cafeteria Catholicism’ to win out. The real question is: Which version of the Catholic Church will survive?”
The Wanderer asked Simpson to comment further. She replied in an email:
“Even more traditional clergy, at every level, find it easier to go along to get along — usually meaning to support Democrat, liberal politicians because they’re more vocal, more media-savvy and free with contributions, and, in this day and age, supporting illegal immigration by ignoring that pesty word ‘illegal.’
“It doesn’t help that the Pope just said he’s concerned that people are hiding in the rigidity of the Commandments and are slaves to duty. He wants that rigidity relaxed. Oh. No wonder Catholics are confused and troubled,” Simpson said.
Excessive flexibility about what’s required “began after Vatican II with all the changes in the Mass,” she said. “As parishioners got used to the new procedures, they also began to get used to the more lenient attitudes of the priests — not a problem to miss Mass, okay to use birth control, divorce not a real problem, Confession more or less optional, and more.
“Sunday School became a watered-down, Disney-esque version of the traditional catechism,” Simpson said, “so it’s no surprise that the adults of today — which includes lay people and clergy — generally play fast and loose about rules and regulations, with the attitude that it’s not a good idea to be too strict because, after all, God loves us and we’ll all go to Heaven, won’t we?”
Meanwhile, Trump’s inclination to use off-the-cuff reactions created more problems than necessary when dominant liberal media already wait to pounce on every word.
When Fox television host Bill O’Reilly called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a killer,” Trump replied, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”
That seemed to be an attitude of moral equivalence much more suited to the perspective of Barack Obama viewing the U.S.’s enemies. Was Trump thinking of U.S. blunders like getting into the war in Iraq that Trump opposed? Or was Trump just firing off a riposte without thinking it through?
A conservative political activist who didn’t want to be named because of his connections told The Wanderer:
“The media and the entire left have no leg to stand on when it comes to them criticizing those on the right for their willingness to overlook, ignore, or even cheer for Trump when he takes positions that ought to be criticized. They were non-stop cheerleaders for Obama when he was destroying the country and its position in the world.
“At the same time, the fact that the left did it for Obama doesn’t mean the right ought to feel justified in doing it for Trump.
“There is no moral equivalent between the U.S.A. and Russia, particularly when discussing the actions of Vladimir Putin, whose country has invaded its neighbors and murdered their people,” he said. “Yet for whatever reason, most on the right are silent, either because they can’t see the error in his ways or because they don’t want to end up on the receiving end of one of his tweets.
“Still, much as the left forfeited, years ago, any moral standing they might have had to defend standards of moral conduct, those on the right must not do the same,” he said.

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2018 / 05:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has reconfirmed Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also reconfirming seven members…Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Trump administration’s 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday, the U.S. Catholic bishops are urging for a budget that shows greater concern for “‘the least of these” and warning that the U.S. “must never seek…Continue Reading

A Connecticut high school student may have to decide whether to remove a Planned Parenthood sticker on her laptop or leave her Catholic school after administrators told her to remove it, her parents said. Sophomore Kate Murray’s parents told the Greenwich Time that…Continue Reading

February 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts should be taken in “context” with Biblical times, Jesuit Father James Martin toldGeorgetown University students recently. Martin said as well that Catholics who support gay “marriage” should have no problem…Continue Reading

JACKSON, Mississippi, February 2, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A bill banning abortion on babies more than 15 weeks old passed the Mississippi state House today 79-31. House Bill 1510 would make Mississippi the state with the most pro-life laws if it…Continue Reading

Just three Democrats in the U.S. Senate supported a bill on Monday that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling pain. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has strong public support from Republicans…Continue Reading

ROME, January 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In an exclusive interview two weeks after issuing a profession of immutable truths about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider is inviting his brother bishops around the world to join in raising a common voice…Continue Reading

As Katholisch.de, the official website of the German bishops, reports today, Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Dutch cardinal and Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, requested that Pope Francis bring light into the confusion concerning the question as to how to deal with…Continue Reading

When Selena Miller, a practicing Catholic, applied to DePaul, she had no idea it was a Catholic university. Damita Meneves, another practicing Catholic, said she has met only one other Catholic student in her first year at DePaul. DePaul is…Continue Reading

His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, spoke recently with Thinking with the Church, hosted by Chris Altieri, who is also a regular contributor to Catholic World Report. Cardinal Burke responds to questions regarding the interpretation and reception of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris…Continue Reading

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By DON FIER (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., graciously took time out of his busy schedule to grant The Wanderer a wide-ranging interview during a recent visit to the Shrine. Included among the topics…Continue Reading

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke delivered the address below at the 32nd Annual Church Teaches Forum, “The Message of Fatima: Peace for the World,” Galt House, Louisville, Ky., July 22, 2017. The address is reprinted here with the kind permission of Cardinal Burke. All rights reserved. This is part one of the…Continue Reading

Catechism

Today . . .

There’s nothing, it seems, that the abortion chain Planned Parenthood won’t sue over. On Thursday, affiliates of the abortion chain in seven states sued the Trump administration for cutting funding for their questionable teen pregnancy prevention programs. The Daily Nonpareil reports the lawsuits argue that the Trump administration wrongly cut their funding prematurely and without cause. Nine groups, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, South C

CAMBRIDGE, England, February 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A respected Catholic historian and philosopher challenged Cardinal Blase Cupich during a lecture last week about Pope’ Francis so-called “revolution of mercy” that has caused what many are defending as a “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice. Professor John Rist, after listening to a February 9 lecture at Cambridge Universityin which Cardinal Cupich praised Pope Francis’ “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice, asked the Cardinal at the end of the lect

VIENNA, Austria, February 14, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Austria’s bishops, led by Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, are indignant over a retired bishop’s passionate defense of Catholic teaching in opposing Church “blessings” for homosexual unions. After Bishop Andreas Laun, the retired Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, published Monday his strong rebuke of the German bishops for proposing to bless homosexual couples, there has been an inten

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago is all for clarity. It has been a consistent theme, as when in September of 2017 he issued a decree banning guns in all parishes, schools and other facilities across the archdiocese “so there would be absolute clarity on our position.” His official statement put “clarity” in italics. When he was bishop of Rapid City, he called for “civility and clarity” in discussing legislation that would limit abortion, but he…Continue Reading

BEIJING — A group of influential Catholics published an open letter Monday express their shock and disappointment at report that the Vatican could soon reach a deal with the Chinese government, warning that it could create a schism in the church in China. The Holy See has been in negotiations for several years with the Chinese Communist Party and is now belie

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Within a week of taking office on January 23, 2017, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, now called the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, which bans U.S. funding for abortions overseas. The expanded policy prohibits $9 billion in U.S. taxpayer money from funding foreign organizations that perform or…Continue Reading

By HANNAH BROCKHAUS VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Pope Paul VI, allowing his canonization to take place, possibly later this year. According to Vatican Insider, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle by a…Continue Reading

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly] in Crisis. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also cofounder and president of…Continue Reading

By LISA BOURNE (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews ran this story on February 5.) + + + A Catholic priest is calling on bishops to excommunicate the 14 Catholic-identifying U.S. senators who voted two weeks ago against banning late-term abortions. He is also calling on priests to deny the Catholic pro-abortion senators Holy Communion. “Today is the…Continue Reading

By JAMES LIKOUDIS The centuries-old theological debate concerning the existence of Limbo for unbaptized babies (the limbo puerorum as a state of natural happiness) led to the 2007 publication of the document The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized by the International Theological Commission (ITC). The commission concluded there are “serious…Continue Reading

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Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

By DON FIER For a variety of reasons (a defect of consent, a diriment impediment, or a defect of the required form), many supposed modern-day marriages entered into by Catholic persons are invalid from their origin in the eyes of God and the Church. However, as we saw last week, depending on the circumstances, the Church has procedures by which…Continue Reading

Q. Concerning what our Blessed Mother said in Fatima about the rosary, I am confused as to whether or not she meant us to meditate on the mysteries while we are praying the Hail Marys or whether she meant us to meditate on the mysteries right before we say the Hail Marys. The consensus seems to be that we are…Continue Reading

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Lent Readings: Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10 In the first reading today we hear about Abraham’s nearly incomprehensible act of faith and love for God shown in his willingness to sacrifice his own son. We have to be careful not to read this in a vacuum. This test, which…Continue Reading

By ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI (Wanderer Editor’s Note: Catholic News Agency on February 3 published a commentary concerning a 1989 Vatican response to dissent against Humanae Vitae. Below is an excerpted version of that commentary. Following that, we reprint the full text of the 1989 Vatican response, which, as the CNA commentary explains, is now available on the Vatican’s website. Please also…Continue Reading

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK A joke sometimes recounted among clergy goes along these lines: Someone greets a wise old priest by asking, “What’s new?”, and he responds, sagely, “Christ is risen!” The humor here is less about what’s new than about the fact that everything, other than the only true revolution of Christ’s Incarnation and triumph over death, is…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN Great sinners make great saints. It takes a strong-willed child to become a saint. These are statements which would easily fit saints such as Mary Magdalene and St. Augustine. In the thirteenth century, a young lady free in spirit and strong in will led such a life that she was essentially driven from her home village, but…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN In the lives of the saints one thing is very common: They have such a strong desire to do God’s will that nothing will hinder their work. Many saints, despite illness, weak health, or many other obstacles achieved their goals. Frequently the amount of work accomplished by such individuals seems humanly impossible — and, of course, it…Continue Reading